Erutan
by BlackBird28
Summary: Hollis Woods is the shyest, quietest, queerest person you'll ever meet. She's afraid of everything in the world. Except her woods. The only place where she can just be Holly. But what happens when fate brings her a friend? Can he teach her how to live?
1. Prologue: Run

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable from the Twilight universe :( _

Prologue

Run

I was running. Trees flew past me at blinding speeds. I was running faster than my bike, faster than a car, possibly faster than I'd ever run before. But it wasn't fast enough. Not enough to drive away the piercing pain. Not enough to fill the large, gaping hole left in my chest where my heart had been. I understood now why _she_ would sometimes cross her arms over herself. At the time, I thought it was simply because she was in so much distress that she felt physical pain. But now I know, it was so much more than that. Now I know she was trying desperately to keep the shattered pieces of her heart together, to keep herself from completely shattering altogether. I know how she felt because now I feel it too. It's overwhelming. It's like being stabbed repeatedly and then thrown into an active Volcano to slowly burn alive.

I needed to forget it.

I needed to get away from the pain.

To escape it.

So I ran. Faster each minute, pushing myself to the limit and beyond. I needed the physical pain, to keep my mind off the intense emotional pain radiating throughout my body. I needed to completely give in to the wolf.

And so I ran.

I wasn't aware of where I was going, or how long I'd been running, or when I planned on stopping, but that didn't matter. As long as I was doing _something_.

And so I ran. And ran and ran and ran.

Until my body couldn't take it anymore, and I collapsed from sheer physical exhaustion. But still, my last thought as I slipped into blessed unconsciousness, was of her.

_Bella._

**A/N: Hi, this is my first fanfic and I am so excited :D I know the prologue isn't the best, but it does get better, I promise. Anyway, please leave a review, 'cause they make me happy :D thanks,  
**

**BlackBird28**


	2. The Animals

Chapter One

The Animals

"MOM!! KYLE STOLE MY FIRETRUCK AGAIN!!"

"KYLE! GIVE HUNTER BACK HIS TRUCK!"

"MOM! HUNTER'S THE ONE WHO STOLE _MY _TRUCK, I WAS ONLY TAKING IT BACK!"

"WELL THEN SHARE IT WITH YOUR BROTHER HUNTER!"

"I'M NOT HUNTER! I'M KYLE!"

"NO HE'S NOT! _I'M_ KYLE! HE'S HUNTER!"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE! I'M KYLE ANDYOUR-"

"WELL I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE AS LONG AS YOU SHARE THAT TRUCK WITH YOUR BROTHER! NOW-"

Click.

I doubt they could here the door close, given all the yelling currently going on in my house, but I winced all the same. Now was not the time to be caught sneaking out.

Mom was on a war path.

But then, I suppose having twin seven year olds will do that to you.

Oh well.

I inhaled a deep breath of fresh air. Ah. Peace. Sweet relief. I slowly crept out the back gate and into the beautiful, deep woods.

I don't know why, but I've always felt a sort of...connection, with the woods. I feel like I'm totally at peace with myself and the world as soon as I set foot on the leaf covered ground. It's like I've finally found where I belong, like I finally found home. Because, you see, I've been convinced ever since my little brothers came in to the world that I am definitely not from the same planet as Kyle and Hunter. I shy away from risk, they challenge it to a duel, I cringe at the first sign of danger, they slap it in the face. It's like we're polar opposites. My mom is the same way. She is the kind of person who isn't afraid of the world. She takes the proverbial bull by the horns and chucks it half way to Greenland.

Needless to say, it gets a bit...chaotic around my house sometimes. So I escape into the woods. Like today.

Ah. I breath in another breath of wonderful fresh air, and immediately feel my blood pressure go down.

I start on my well worn path to my favorite spot. It's a secluded little grove of trees right in the middle of our property, and when I'm sitting there, I feel like nothing can ever harm me. I feel safe and secure, like I'm being held in the arms of someone who loves me. And the woods do love me, and I love the woods. I love every leaf on every tree. I love every deer, squirrel, rabbit, coyote, wolf, mountain lion, bear and any other animals inhabiting the woods. I love them all, and I feel like I know each one personally, like I know every animal in the woods. Big, small, I love 'em all.

Oh god.

That sounds like an awful jingle to a pet store commercial. I really have to watch my imagination when it wanders away from me like that. Yikes.

Still shaking my head at my own stupidity, I finally step into my little clearing. The sun is bright, the sky is blue, the birds are chirping and all is, momentarily, right in my world.

And then suddenly my face is acquainting itself with the ground.

Ow.

I don't remember that rock being there the last time I checked, which was probably less than 12 hours ago...but wait, no...

I felt my stomach tighten with fear and a knot form in the back of my throat as I slowly realized that I hadn't tripped over a rock at all, but rather a rock hard...

Whoa.

So maybe I don't know _all _the animals in the forest.


	3. Surprise Surprise

Chapter Two

Surprise Surprise

Its still asleep. Whatever "it" is. To be honest, I'm not really sure, but I'm going go with big hairy mammal, somewhat resembling a wolfish type thing.

Only bigger.

_Much_ bigger.

Whatever it is though, it's lying smack dab in the middle of _my_ secret spot. And it's snoring.

Obviously it must be in serious need of shut eye, considering I'd just fallen over it and kicked it in the stomach(...at least, I think that was it's stomach, it's kind of hard to tell with all that fur...)and it hadn't even stirred. It obviously wasn't going to wake up any time soon, so I could just casually slip away and hopefully stay attached to all of my limbs in the process.

I'd be ok. I'd be fine. If I could only get my legs to move and convince the rest of my body to listen to my brain.

Which, my friends, is harder than it looks when faced with the possibility of death by Jurassic Wolf.

So after minutes of serious contemplation on the part of my legs, I finally started to cautiously back out of my clearing, trying to fight down the waves of fear and adrenaline induced nausea. Not working.

I could feel my whole body shaking. I was starting to sweat. I was _freaking out, _which is what I do every time I feel like I'm in the least bit of danger. And apparently, piano recitals count.

I was almost out, I could almost taste my freedom...and then...I stepped on something. Something that made a surprisingly loud cracking noise.

The wolf's eyes snapped open.

It snarled, immediately jumping up and searching frantically around the clearing for the intruder.

And then its eyes found me.

Oh God.

My knees wobbled and collapsed, no longer able to hold up my weight, and I crumpled to a heap on the ground. I looked up. I wanted to see the sky, and my woods, one last time. But instead I caught the gaze of the wolf. What I saw shocked me to the core. The wolf's eyes were so...so human. And so in pain.

The wolf stared back at me in wonder, at first seeming enthralled by my very presence, but then, it shook its head in disgust, snarling and glaring at me, and then changed its mind again as its expression softened.

It started towards me.

And then my world went black.


	4. Not Normal

_Disclaimer: I only own Twilight in my dreams...:(_

Chapter Three

Not Normal

I was lying on the ground. I wasn't exactly sure how I'd gotten there, or how long I'd been there for that matter, but I did know that it was not comfortable in the least. I figured I should probably get up, or do something anyway, so I opened my eyes. And was immediately blinded by the sun. That is, until a large, dark shape completely blocked it out.

The optimistic part of by brain thought it was a cloud. The logical part of my brain knew that clouds don't move that fast. Nor do they have bad breath and large, sloppy wet tongues.

"GAH!"

I sat up so quickly that I saw spots. But, frankly, spots were the least of my worries at the moment.

The wolf that I had been so desperately hoping was only a figment of my overactive imagination was, quite literally, standing right over me. I cowered in fear, throwing my hands over my head and quivering, waiting for the first inevitable bite. Of course, it hadn't occurred to me at the time that if the wolf really wanted to eat me, it already would have.

Oh well.

Instead of eating me, it did something that I never would have expected, in a million years, from a giant, wild, man-eating (or so I thought) wolf.

It _licked_ me.

At first, I thought it was just taking a nibble to see if I tasted good, but then it licked me again!

Somewhat reassured, but still not throughly convinced that it wasn't going to eat me, I slowly looked up from my little cocoon. The wolf was grinning down at me, his deep brown eyes twinkling, as if laughing at a private joke that only he understood.

It took me a few minutes to realize that he was laughing at _me._ That wolf was laughing at me!

The idea sounded ridiculous even in my head, but, looking into his surprisingly human eyes, it suddenly didn't seem so crazy at all.

It then occurred to my that I had just been referring to the wolf as a _he._ When did "it" become "he"? I shook my head, trying to clear it. But then my eyes found his. It was like the first time our gazes had connected. I felt like I was seeing into his soul. I could see that he was in pain. Something, or, _someone, _as my instincts told me, had hurt him. Someone had betrayed him, loved him and the left him alone and broken.

My reverie was broken as he made a whimpering noise, almost as though he could tell that I was seeing something he didn't want me to see. I shook my head again.

This was not normal.

Normal people don't go for a walk in the woods, find a wolf the size of a horse sleeping in their meadow and then start to think of the wolf as almost, human, and in pain, and, and...

He was staring at me. Like he could tell exactly what I was thinking.

That's not normal either. Wolves aren't supposed be able to tell what you're thinking. People aren't supposed to be able to see into wolves' souls. Wolves aren't supposed to lay down quietly next to you like a dog, seemingly hanging on your every word. Or, lack there of, in my case. This whole thing wasn't normal.

Maybe the house would be quiet by now. Maybe I should go, and come back later, preferably to a wolf free meadow. Slowly, carefully, I moved to get up, my eyes on the wolf the whole time. I wasn't going to let him out of my sight until I was out of the clearing. Then I would run as fast as humanly possible until I was safe at home. Yeah, that would work.

Except that when I got up, he did too.

I momentarily froze. He was going to attack. I knew it. All that calm, docile of-course-I'm-not-going-to-eat-you stuff was just a ruse. I was toast.

I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the attack. But, once again, it never came. I opened my eyes. The wolf just stood there, its big head cocked to the side, another huge grin plastered across his face.

Ok.

That was strange.

I started to back my way out of the meadow, and he stood calmly watching me, but after a few paces, he followed. I stopped, so did he. I moved backwards, he followed. I slowly realized that, for whatever reason, this wolf was following me.

And that, was_ definitely _not normal.

**A/N: Hi! This is my first story ever, and I'm really excited. I'm also really interested to hear what people think of my story. I don't mind if you hate it as long as you tell me why :D Just leave a review and I'll love you forever!! Thanks :D**

BlackBird


	5. The Not So Great Escape

_Disclaimer: I still don't own anything from Twilight :(_

Chapter Four

The Not So Great Escape

"No, stop, go home, leave, go away, stay in the meadow, I don't care what you do as long as you _stop following me!_".

Trying to get a mammoth sized wolf to stop mirroring my every step was a new experience for me, and quite a challenging one, considering I don't speak wolf, and wolves definitely don't speak English...at least, I'm pretty sure they don't. Normal wolves don't anyway. But this wolf wasn't normal.

The way he was looking at me...it was like he could understand everything I was saying...and he _still_ wouldn't stop following me.

"Really" I started, facing him and planting my hands on my hips, ignoring the fact that I probably looked eerily like my mother at the moment, "this is ridiculous! You're a wolf for god's sake! You're not supposed to be following me, and even if giant wolves following people home was a normal occurrence in civilized society, my mother won't even let me have a _dog_, let alone a _wolf!_"

I was thankful that not very many people live in Culp Creek, Oregon, population 257, because if someone happened to walk by me, or simply wander in my general vicinity, they would be calling the police and I would be given a 48 hour lock down in the quiet room.

Because I was talking to a _wolf._

Even I thought I was crazy.

But the wolf just stood there grinning at me. Obviously, he thought I was putting on a great show.

Stupid wolf.

"Look" I started, lowering my voice and staring straight into his eyes, ignoring the strange feeling it still evoked "I just want to go home. I'll...I'll come back later if you wan-"

But I was interrupted when my phone started ringing. Damn. That would be mom.

"Um, hello?" I said uncertainly into the phone, "Hollis? Hollis Woods?" came my mom's panicked voice on the other end. My mother is the only person in the entire world allowed to call me _Hollis_.

"Yea mom, it's me"

"Oh thank goodness. Where are you sweetie-pie?"

Ug, I groaned. You'd think that after nearly 17 years of living with me she would know that I don't appreciate being called _sweetie-pie._

"I'm in the woods, mom. Where I always am."

"Oh, ok, just, come home soon, honey."

"Will do, mom, bye" I said, closing my phone and looking up, hoping that the wolf had gotten bored and left. Apparently not.

He was still standing there, large, obnoxious grin still plastered on his face, his tail wagging merrily.

Strange wolf.

I looked at him for a moment before breaking the silence "Why are you following me?"

He whined a bit, and then started towards me. I froze and then took another step back. I still wasn't completely sure that he wasn't going to eat me.

He stopped and then, tail wagging, got down on his fury stomach and started scooting towards me. When I didn't move backwards, he scooted some more, until he was less than three feet away from me.

And then he rolled on his back and stuck his feet into the air, tongue lolling out the side of his mouth.

My first thought was 'oh my god, this wolf wants a belly rub' , but then I remembered that in wolf packs, one wolf rolls on his back to show another wolf his dominance. It took me a moment to realize that this wolf, this giant, mammoth sized, possibly savage man-eating wolf, was telling me, _me_ who is scared of _everything_, that I was dominant.

Huh. Go figure.

Deciding that he probably wasn't going to eat me if he'd just shown me my dominance, I cautiously took a step forward, and then another, and another, until I was standing over him. He looked up a me, his big, chocolate eyes sparkling with what I can only assume is mischief, his tongue rolling out of his mouth, and I could practically hear him say "_come on, you know you want to". _And I did, I realized with a start. I wanted to pet him, or, touch him, at least.

And so I did.

I reached down and gently touched his head. Then, surprised by how soft his fur was, I continued to pet him, until I was all out scratching his ears and having almost as much fun as he was. But then he rolled over so that he was no longer on his back, and reminded me of how huge he is. I tried to pull my hand away, but he wouldn't let me. He butted my hand with his head and grinned.

Incorrigible wolf.

I stood up and he immediately followed.

I groaned.

"Wolf" I said pleadingly,"please, just stay here, I'll come back later, I promise"

He looked at me skeptically, a look that just a moment ago I would've considered physically impossible for a wolf.

"Fine, how about I..." I searched for a way to prove to this wolf that I would come back later, since it seemed unavoidable at this point.

"How about I leave my sweater with you?" I asked, wincing as I did. It was my mother's favorite sweater, I'd just "borrowed" it for the afternoon. Why I was thinking of leaving it with a wild wolf who'd probably drag it through the mud before tearing it to pieces, I don't know.

He looked at me skeptically again, but then seemed to accept it.

I took my sweater off and held it out to him.

He took it gently in his mouth and then sat down on the ground. I took a step away.

He didn't move.

I took another step.

He stayed still.

Slowly I turned and started walking towards home.

He didn't follow.

_Well, that was relatively easy, _I thought as I walked.

_A lot easier than explaining to mom where her favorite sweater is, anyway._

**A/N: Hi, sorry it's been a little while, but finals are coming up and I've been really stressed lately. Anyway, this isn't my favorite chapter so far, but tell me what you think :D (psst, that's a hint to review :D) Updates might be a little slow until summer really gets here, but stick with me, I won't abandon this story, I promise :D  
**


	6. Talking To Fences

_Disclaimer: If I was Stephenie Meyer, and I owned Twilight, then I probably wouldn't be writing this :D_

Chapter Five

"Mom!" I called as the screen door slammed in my wake, "Hello? Where are you guys?"

"In the living room!" she called back.

I walked in to find my mom sitting on the couch next to Kyle and Hunter, who had apparently gotten tired of fighting and decided to take a break and watch Clifford The Big Red Dog. I tried to not think of the Big Red Wolf that was waiting for me in the woods, holding mom's sweater.

"Hi sweetie, how was your walk?"

"um, fine, mom" I said nervously, attempting to inch past her to the stairs, and the safety of my room.

"Where are you going now?" she asked.

"Just to my room, mom."

"Well, wait a minute honey I need to-" she started, but I didn't hear the rest, as I was already making a run for the staircase, praying to god that she hadn't noticed the missing sweater, but not sticking around long enough to find out. I'll admit I felt slightly rude, leaving her hanging like that, but my state of mind at the moment was not the best.

When I finally reached my room, I practically slammed the door and then turned around and leaned against it, breathing hard. I couldn't believe the morning I was having.

Really.

I couldn't.

A giant wolf tried to follow me home today? No, that couldn't happen. Not to me, that kind of thing only happens to people in the movies, not plain, ordinary me.

I walked over to my full length mirror on my closet door. Straight, brown hair that turns blond every summer, slender build, practically nonexistent curves, blue eyes that turned green every now and again, complexion kind of a...pale gold, not including the acne that still plagued my existence...the only thing even slightly unusual, or...extraordinary about me was my height. I'm 5'8 - well, I'm really more 5'8 going on 5'9, but as long as I'm still within the range of 5'8, that's all I'm going to say when people ask – and I'm the tallest girl in my grade. Granted, my grade consists of about 35 people, but still, it makes me stick out a bit.

There's also the fact that most of the guys around my age (and there aren't many, considering the population size of my town) are shorter than me, and the ones that are taller than me already have girlfriends. Short girlfriends. It seems, in my school anyway, that all the tall guys go for the really short girls, causing a sometimes ridiculous height difference, not that I cared. I've never really been bothered by the lack of available men-folk in my life, because as far as I can tell, most of them are idiots anyway, so why bother?

Turning away from the mirror, I stepped around the piles of clothes littered across my bedroom floor, and collapsed on my bed. I slowly rolled around to lie on my back, trying to enjoy my last minutes of peace before my mom came bursting through my door demanding to know why I had ignored her and then bolted up the stairs. But I still couldn't make sense out of the morning I'd had. That wolf...its mere size made it a natural phenomenon, if it even was natural, which I was starting to doubt, but then it had acted so tame, so...

I wanted to say dog-like, but somehow, that didn't seem quite right. This wolf had acted more human than dog, besides the whole rolling on his back thing. I shook my head for what seemed like the millionth time today.

Deciding that I needed a breath of fresh air, I walked over to my window to open it, but then I caught a glimpse of something at our back gate. Something large, russet colored, and unmistakably wolf shaped. _No!_ My mind screamed, as I wrenched open the window, and stuck my head out. "_Wolf!_" I frantically half whispered, half yelled, hanging precariously out the window, "_What do you think you're doing?!_"

Whether he could hear me or not, I don't know, but either way, he was sitting just behind the gate to my backyard, sweater hanging out of his mouth, in plain view of the house. My mother would only have to glance out the kitchen window to see the gigantic wolf sitting at our back gate. And knowing her, she'd notice the sweater too. I contemplated sliding down the drain pipe for a few seconds before deciding that I probably wouldn't be able to get the wolf back into the woods with a broken leg, so I'd just have to take the long way.

I practically flew out of my room, passing my mother on the stairs. I think she yelled something at me, but I was too distracted to even hear what she said, let alone process it. I had other things on my mind.

I tore through the living room and the kitchen before wrenching the back door open and running out into the backyard. "_Wolf!_" I hissed, slowing down as I reached him, "what are you doing here? Do you realize that my mother would have a heart attack if she saw you sitting out here?!"

He grinned.

Stupid wolf.

He dropped the sweater and looked at me. Even sitting down, he was still almost eye level with me. I involuntarily took a step back. I hadn't expected to see him again so soon. Staring at him, I was almost afraid to break the eye contact, but then taking a deep breath, I took another step back and examined my shoe.

It was then that I abruptly realized that if my mom happened to look out the window at that moment, she would see me staring intently at my shoe not three feet away from what she would presume was a blood thirsty monster. That was a lot of explaining that I didn't want to do.

Making my decision, I quietly opened the gate, wincing as it made an obnoxious creaking noise, and stepped through, painfully aware of the fact that there was no longer a fence in between me and the massive wolf.

"I thought I told you to stay in the woods?" I ground out through clenched teeth, desperately wishing I could control my legs as they turned to jelly under me. He whined and then moved forward to nudge my hand with his big nose, almost as though wishing he could hold it. I immediately froze. Somewhere in my mind, I could feel the much underused, but never forgotten instinct of my cave dwelling ancestors, frantically screaming _"Flight!", _because even my subconscious could tell that it wouldn't be a very long fight, and would most likely end with me in pieces at his feet.

"Wolf" I whispered cautiously, stepping around him and further into the woods "come on, you have to go back into the woods." He just stared a me and whined a bit more. "Come on!" I hissed, more urgently now, "you can't just stand here where my mom could see you!" I beckoned him with my hands, and he reluctantly retreated further into the woods.

Once I was sure I'd gotten him far enough in that nobody could see him, from the kitchen window anyway, I started to back my way out of the woods. He, of course, started to follow. "No! Stay!" I cried, throwing my hands out in front of me. I can't be sure, but I think I saw a slightly hurt expression briefly cloud his eyes, but then dismissed the thought immediately. After all, wolves can't really have a hurt expression in their eyes...right? I started backing up again. "Just...let me talk to my mom for a minute, ok?" I asked him quietly. He looked at me for a moment, and then, seeming to accept it, he laid down on the ground, and put his head on his paws.

I had to admit, he was pretty cute.

I turned around and started walking towards the gate. Stopping to pick up the sweater, I peeped over my shoulder to make sure he wasn't following me again, but he was still in the same position as a moment ago. Sighing in relief, I opened the gate and made my way to the back door.

As I'd suspected, my mother wasn't happy.

"Just what is going on, young lady?! First you rush in here, completely ignore me when I'm trying to tell you something important, and then you race up to your room only to run right back down again and nearly knock my down the stairs doing it! And then you're out in the backyard _talking _to our _fence?!_"

Great. She'd noticed.

"Just what has gotten into to you?" she asked, looking at me as though I'd just grown a pair of antlers and a bright red nose.

To answer her question, I held out the somewhat battered sweater.

"Sorry, mom, I must've dropped it out in the woods. When I came back I realized I didn't have it, so I went up to my room, just to make sure it wasn't there, and then when it wasn't, I ran back outside to look for it in the woods. I know it's really important to you, so I didn't want to lose it." I mumbled, purposely avoiding the reason why it was important to her, while tactfully leaving out any mention of the wolf.

She was still breathing hard from her rant, but I could see her visibly calming down and becoming somewhat rational again. She accepted the sweater as I placed it into her hands.

I watched as she lovingly ran her fingers over the stitching, making me feel even more guilty for almost losing it to the wolf.

"Mom?" I asked cautiously after she'd been staring at it for a while. She looked up, startled, as though she'd forgotten I was even there. She'd obviously been somewhere else, filled with memories of happier times. "Yeah, honey, I'm fine" she sniffed, giving me a watery smile. I smiled back, trying to convey my remorse for almost losing her sweater.

"Was there something you wanted to tell me, mom?" I asked, eager to get off the current topic.

"Oh, yes" she said, the smile dropping off her face, as she wiped her eyes on her sleeve.

"Honey, there's something I've been meaning to tell you." I stiffened. This couldn't be good.

"We...well, I've been having some...trouble, lately – I groaned, it probably had something to do with that stupid landlord – and, well, we...we're, I afraid...we have to move.

"_...What?!"_

**A/N: hi, sorry its been so long, but I've been trying to bring some sort of order to my hectic life, and, of course, have been failing miserably** **:D Anyway, that's my pathetic excuse, hope you liked the chapter, if you did, just tell me what you think in that little box down there, if not...well, you can tell me why you didn't like it in that little box down there too :D thanks to all who have been reviewing! It make me happy :D I was also wondering if anyone would be interested in a chapter from Jacob's P.O.V? I wouldn't be repeating information (not much anyway) b/c that gets kind of tedious, I'd just be writing (or attempting to write) in his voice and trying to give some of his perspective. Anywho, tell me what you think!!**

BlackBird28


	7. Riptide

_Disclaimer: Despite my efforts, Stephenie Meyer still refuses to sells me the rights to Twilight...so, I don't own anything :(_

Chapter Six

Riptide

I was running. My my arms were pumping, my breath was coming out in strangled gasps, my legs were straining, complaining at not being given fair warning of my intentions of waring myself out so completely that I couldn't even think, let alone process the fact that I was moving to Dawson City in a few days. My whole body was screaming in protest. But I didn't care.

How could I move? Away from my friends (most of whom I hadn't talked to in over a year, but that's besides the point), away from my childhood home, away from my woods and virtually all I'd known in my almost 17 years of existence? I groaned and pushed myself faster as the memories flooded my mind. Laughter. Falling off the monkey bars. Being picked up again by gentle hands. Climbing trees. Blowing out candles. Being thrown up into the air. Christmas morning with Santa Clause and his big bag of presents, and even bigger belly laugh. The joy of knowing that I'm unconditionally loved.

Thoughts

Emotions.

Feelings that I'd repressed for so long resurfacing with a vengeance. All my carefully built walls and dams breaking and drowning me in memories, coming out my eyes in big, fat, unwanted tears.

I roughly wiped them off my face. Now is not the time to break down_, _I told myself, just barely hanging on to my sanity. Mom needs me, the twins need me, it isn't any easier on them. I can't leave the now.

But even as I thought this, I was running. Away from them, away the pain, but mostly, away from me.

I didn't pay attention to where my feet carried me. They knew the way. They'd carried me there hundreds of times. They hadn't forgotten. They carried me down the now overgrown path. To the big oak tree on the south side of our property. Up the old rope ladder...but here they stopped. Hesitated.

And then, in a rare act of bravery, I willed myself into the tree house, built so long ago by strong, sure hands.

I slowly walked about, observing the old hammock chair hanging in the corner, where I'd sat for two days, unable to stop crying. Saw once again the claw marks left by my finger nails from when the park police, aided by my mother, had finally dragged me out into the cruel world again. Sunk to my unstable knees as I finally let the tears cloud my vision, and fall to the unyielding wooden floor. Asked myself the same question I had a year and a half ago when my whole world had so suddenly collapsed.

_Why?_

Why had the world taken him from me? What had he ever done but love everybody and everything? Why couldn't it have been me to leave this Earth? Why?

I was asking the question out loud now. Over and over again I rocked myself, back and forth, my arms around my knees, my body convulsing with sobs. And then suddenly, it was too much. I had to get out. Frantically, hysterically almost, I shoved my body out the square hole to the rope ladder, and started climbing down it so fast that the whole tree shook. When I got close to the bottom, I jumped, and landed on the hard ground. I felt my ankle twist into an impossible position as I collapsed into a shaking, sobbing heap on the forest floor.

I don't know how long I stayed there. An hour, maybe two. It could've been fifteen minutes, or fifteen days. I don't know. In that moment, time was irrelevant for me. I could hear nothing. I could see nothing. I could feel everything. The memories and emotions kept hitting me, one after the other, like waves, crashing me down and then sucking me under. I was being pulled into the ocean. I was struggling to get to shore, to regain a piece of my sanity, but it was a lost cause. I was stuck. Stuck in a riptide of my own making.

I was closing my eyes, giving in to the inevitable, when I heard it. A soft, worried whine by my left ear.

Then a gentle nudge. Another whine. I realized that wolf was with me. My life preserver, I thought ironically. He nudged me again, and I slowly lifted my head up to meet his gaze. The moment my eyes met his, I felt that same connection I had the first time I saw him, that jolt of intuition. And then, before the sensible part of my brain could catch on and stop me, I flung myself at him, burying my face into his soft russet fur, and holding on for dear life, trying desperately to keep myself afloat.

He seemed surprised for a few seconds, before laying down and curling his body protectively around mine. He was warm, I realized somewhere in the back of my mind as I cried into his fur. I tried to focus on his warmth. On him. To not feel the tidal waves of emotions and not see the tsunami of memories. I wrapped myself around him tighter, squeezing my eyes shut and listening to the steady thump of his heartbeat. I made myself become totally aware of him, body and mind.

And then it hit me.

Another waves of emotions, strange emotions, not my own. I felt surprise, sadness, an overwhelming feeling of helplessness, despair, tenderness, and most surprisingly, strange feelings of love, joy, and devotion. But underneath it all, I could feel an emotion so strong, so heart-shatteringly painful, that it knocked the air out of my lungs, and I gasped in surprise.

Pulling away sharply, I looked up again to catch his gaze. I was met with a pair of intelligent, chocolate brown eyes that stared back at me, mirroring my own look of shock. Had he felt it too? Was it possible that these were...Wolf's emotions?

I shook my head in disbelief.

It couldn't be.

Things like this just weren't possible. But then again...

I looked back at him, ignoring the strange, but now almost familiar feeling I got when I caught his gaze.

We both stared at each other for a while, examining each other. He cocked his head to the side, staring at me, seeming perplexed. He didn't seem to have anymore of an idea what was going on than I did.

I realized, after a while, that somewhere during all that, I had stopped crying. Wolf seemed to notice too, and he hesitantly reached out to me with his muzzle. My immediate reaction should have been to pull away and run screaming back to my house, but I ...felt him, felt his emotions, and knew that he would never hurt me. _Could _neverhurt me. So I stayed still as he slowly came closer and started to gently lick the tears off my cheeks, nearly covering my whole face with his huge, wet tongue. He pulled away, grinning at me, and I couldn't help but give him a watery smile. He was very pleased with himself, I could tell, but he still wasn't satisfied. I could feel him silently pleading with me to tell him what's wrong.

I buried my face back his his furry shoulder and sighed "Oh Wolf, what am I going to do?"

He whined and gently nudged me, as though urging me to tell him more, "I can't move" I cried, feeling the tears gathering in my eyes again, " I don't care if we have family up there! I can't move, I just can't! My whole life is here!" I sobbed into his fur, "These woods...they're my last real connection to...to..." I chocked, trying to say the word that I had been avoiding for so long. Then, taking a shaky breath, I finished in a quite, strangled voice "...to d-dad. And sure enough, it brought back another tidal waves of emotions and memories that I wasn't prepared to face.

Wolf whimpered when I cried out, almost as though he could feel the same thing I did. And then I realized that he probably did feel the same thing that I did, it made sense, anyway, if I could feel his emotions, then he could probably feel mine...

This was getting very weird.

Why would I be able to..._sense_ the emotions of a...a wolf?

Why was all this happening to me now?

Was it a coincidence that my mom tells me we're moving the same day I meet a gigantic, wild wolf who follows me home like a lost puppy? And now whose emotions I can feel?

It was all too confusing, and my poor, muddled brain was having trouble coping with this new development in my more-than-a-little strange relationship with the wolf, on top of the knowledge that I was moving away from my home. My last real connection to dad.

I cringed as I thought his name. My thoughts immediately went back to him, and the hopeless feeling of loss that I got whenever I thought of him. I felt my stomach tightening again as the tears streamed down my face at an alarming rate. I guess this is what I get for bottling up all my emotions for a year and a half.

Of course, mom had tried to get me to talk about it, but I just...couldn't.

I couldn't talk to mom, because she can never just listen. She always has to put her two cents in, and then it usually turns in to ten cents, and then that turns into a quarter, and before you know it she's spewing advice and sympathy like Dr. Phil on steroids.

That's why I always talked to dad. He was my confident, I could talk to him about anything, and he would always just sit there, attentively listening and supporting me. He would never judge, and he always knew just what to say to make me feel better. But the time I needed him most, he wasn't there. Because he was he reason I was upset. He'd left me forever.

And there would never be anyone who could replace him, and fill the void he left in my heart. There would never be anyone I could talk to like I could talk to dad.

Just then Wolf nudged me, whimpering slightly. And that's when I realized that there _was_ someone I could talk to (well, not some_one_, per say, but a living organism anyway), that wouldn't talk back, or openly pity me, or go tell a psychiatrist.

Wolf.

And he was right next to me.

And so I told him.

I told him all about my dad. How he was a photographer for National Geographic. How he loved nature, anything to do with animals, plants, insects...anything living and breathing, really. And how he passed that love on to me.

I told him how my dad was always traveling to interesting places. He would come home with the most amazing stories, and even better pictures.

I told him how my dad loved to work with his hands. How he had built the tree house for me when I was five, and how we played endless games of hide and seek in the woods.

Then, I told him how my dad went to Canada, on a trip for his job to take pictures of the disappearing wildlife there for a story they were doing. I told him how my dad was supposed to be gone for a week, but he didn't come back. I told him how they'd found my dad's shredded backpack in the woods a few days later.

I told him how I shut everyone out. How I'd hated the woods for a couple months, before realizing that they weren't to blame, and besides, they were a part of dad. A part of me. I told him how I'd realized that dad would have wanted me to go on loving the woods all the more, because he couldn't.

I told him.

And he listened.

**A/N: This chapter made me sad when I was writing it...:( Anyway, as far as the Jacob P.O.V chapter goes, since I only had ONE review (thanks, btw :D) -cries in a corner- and that was in favor of a J P.O.V chap, I will write it :D It'll probably be the next chap or the one after that. I'll try to update faster (although I am starting to doubt how many of you really care :( ) but my updating would be a LOT faster if peoples reviewed!! If you really don't like my story, or you think there's something I should be doing to make it better...tell me!! I'm all ears, trust me. Just REVIEW!!**

**Pretty Please?**

BlackBird28


	8. Author's Note Sorry!

Ok, well, this isn't a chapter, and I hate to put an author's note instead of a chapter (because we all know how annoying it is), but the next chapter isn't quite ready, and I have some stuff to say.

First of all, I am sooooooooo sorry for not updating in over a month, but I've had a lot going on, like summer work, and summer school (its a looong story) and then Breaking Dawn came out, and I'm still kind of processing it...

Which brings me to the next thing, Breaking Dawn. What did you guys think of it? I wasn't too happy at first, but then I liked it better at the end. I won't spoil anything, just in case someone hasn't read it, but there was a lot of...surprising stuff :D

Also, after reading Breaking Dawn...well, my story is going to have to completely disregard it. Like, pretend that it didn't exist. I could try to work something in so its more of a "What if" story, like what if Jacob never went back, or something like that...would that be better? I don't really know, which is part of the reason why its taken me so long to update...so, yeah :D

Well, anyway, tell me what you think, and once again I am soooo sorry for not updating sooner!

BlackBird28


	9. The Pull of Gravity

_Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight...if I did, Midnight Sun wouldn't be on hold...indefinitely :(_

Chapter 7

The Pull of Gravity

The world, as I have recently discovered, is a very different place in the absence of gravity. For that brief second when the universe is re-situating itself, the Earth ceases to rotate around the sun. Everything seems to slow down, stop trying so hard, and just...be. And then when the universe has settled around its new center, it seems as if everything is suddenly lighter, the sun is brighter, the sky is bluer, the grass is greener...everything is right in the world, because how could it not be when something so beautiful exists? How could something so wonderful, so exquisite, so utterly perfect, exist in a world filled with pain? It couldn't. So there suddenly is no pain, no war, no hunger, no problems, just...her.

At least, that's how it seemed a few hours ago when I'd first seen her. I was so hungry and fatigued and heartbroken that for a moment, I thought I 'd died and gone to heaven.

But a few seconds after the initial shock and resulting high of first laying eyes on her, reality came crashing back down with a force to rival the universe caving in.

I had imprinted.

And she wasn't Bella.

I'd felt my canine face contort in irrational rage. I was mad at the girl, I realized, even though I knew it was in no way her fault, I couldn't help but feel angry at her. For being there, for waking me up and turning my whole world upside down and inside out. But as soon as the anger had come, it was gone. What was I doing? Chasing away the one person who might be able to fill the gap left by _her_ and glue back together the shattered pieces of my heart? The one person who was my perfect match? The one person who was made for me? My soul mate? My other half? How could I be so stupid! I looked up to try to reassure her that I wasn't going to hurt her...and realized that she'd fainted.

That was a few hours ago.

Now I'm laying on the ground curled around a hysterically sobbing Holly (whose name I'd learned by listening in on a conversation of hers) desperately trying to think of a way to help her as she pours her heart out to me about her dead father and forced move to Dawson City, Canada, a place that's a little to close to where her dad was killed for her liking. And on top of that, I think her ankle's broken.

The worst part, well, for me anyway, is the fact that she's moving in a few days. I would, of course, follow her to the end of the earth if she wanted, but somehow, I don't think she'll be too pleased.

She thought it was strange of me to follow her a half a mile through the woods to her house, so chasing her all the way to Northern Canada will probably be a bit of a shock.

But...that's just something I'm going to have to deal with later. Right now, I've got to think of a way to make her happy. Watching her cry and feeling her pain is just too much for me. A beautiful creature like her should never have to be sad. She should have never had to go through the pain of losing her dad. It just isn't right. And neither is her move, for that matter.

And then, of course, there is the matter of our strange little...well, I don't really know what is was but for now I'm going to go with "emotional connection", which really does kind of fit, considering I can now actually _feel _her emotions, and I assume she can feel mine...

It baffled me. No one else in the pack had ever experienced something like this. I know that for a fact because I can see their thoughts every time we're in wolf form. And that's another thing.

The pack.

They're worried about me.

I haven't been able to break the connection so far, but I've been able to block some things, like my exact location, but not the big things. Like Holly.

They all knew I'd imprinted. And I knew they were giving..._her, _regular reports on my whereabouts. But thankfully, I don't think they'd told her about Holly.

Yet.

I couldn't help but feel slightly betrayed and angry. _She'd_ given up on me. _She'd _chosen _him._ What did _she _care? Soon she'd be of one _them_.

But then as soon as these thoughts entered my mind, they were thrown out. I loved her. I knew that. And the same empty, hopeless, feeling that I got whenever I thought of her recently had reappeared, except now, it was different. Smaller somehow. Maybe that was because of Holly.

I gave a humorless laugh, thinking back to that day on the beach when I'd told _her _that I'd never love anyone but _her._ It had all seemed so simple then. In my mind, there could never be anyone else who could measure up to _her._ It just wasn't possible.

But that was before I'd met Holly.

All at once, she was my angle.

My world.

My reason for living.

My everything.

I couldn't believe how _stupid_ I'd been. What if _she_ had picked me? What if she'd chosen life instead of death? We'd be together, and we'd probably be happy, but then what if I'd imprinted and left her? I would have hurt her more than the bloodsucker ever did. But I wouldn't be able to stop myself.

I realized that now, after experiencing it for myself. It was...indescribable. The feelings I got from the memories and thoughts of my fellow pack members who'd imprinted didn't hold a candle to the real thing. It was like I'd been underwater for my whole life and when I saw her, I was pulled to the surface, and I finally had my first breath of sweet, fresh air. It was like someone had taken a blindfold off and let me see the world for what it really is. The gravity that used to hold me to the earth now pulled me to her. I couldn't have gotten away if I'd wanted to. Which I didn't, I realize, looking down at the miracle curled around me, exhausted from crying, and nearly asleep now.

A part of me feels terrible for forgetting _her_ so easily, but then I look down at my angel, my world, and I know I can't help it. She, my Holly, is perfect. She's the best thing that ever happened to me, and I want to spend the rest of my life showing her and telling her how much I love her.

Only...thats kind of hard to do when I'm a wolf.

I want to show her my human form, I really do. But how? Showing her, especially now when so much is happening to her, would probably freak her out so much that she'd run away and never look back. And I don't think I would survive that. No. I'd have to give it some more time.

But how much time?

How long can I afford to wait? What if she hates me for not telling her right away? I don't think I could survive that, either.

No. I'll have to tell her soon. But when? Where? Maybe after she moves. After she settles in and gets used to things, and to me. And after I invest in at least a pair of pants. I don't think she'd appreciate me showing up starkers on her front lawn one morning, claiming to be the wild wolf that followed her all the way up from Oregon to Northern Canada, and passionately declaring my undying love for her.

Yeah. _That_ would go over well. Especially with her mom.

So, I added another item to my current to do list:

1. Gain Holly's trust.

2. Tell her I love her.

3. Live happily ever after together in a vampire-free existence.

4. Buy pants.

Except the buying pants bit will probably have to go first. Right after finding money to buy them with.

I had just started to consider all the possible ways of obtaining said money, when I was startled out of my thoughts as she stirred against me. Bleary eyed, she lifted her head up, seemingly confused, and then she caught my gaze, and her eyes widened as she realized where she was. She immediately tried to scramble away, but then hissed in pain as she accidentally put too much weight on her ankle. I whimpered and moved towards her, attempting to reassure her by sending a wave of calm her way.

The effect was immediate. She relaxed and sighed, laying against me again. But I could feel a cloud of depression and anxiety descending upon her again, and so tried to counter it as best as I could with my own feelings of love.

She pulled back and looked at me, slightly alarmed. She'd felt exactly what I meant her to feel, and I realized now that it might seem bit weird, coming from a _wolf, _ who'd she'd met less than six hours ago no less.

She was still afraid of me, I could tell. I could feel her fear mixed with the sadness and anxiety, and it killed me to know that she didn't trust me yet, but her trust was something I was willing to spend my whole lifetime earning if I had to. I sincerely hoped I didn't, but the way things were going...

Well, I wouldn't think about that now. I tried to focus on living in the moment, and enjoying her presence. And then finally, as Holly sighed and her breathing became even again, I was able to lay my head down gently, so that I was completely encircling her body, and let sleep carry me into the momentary bliss of ignorance.

**A/N: Ok, so, I know it's been an inexcusably long time since I updated, and all I can say is that I'm soooo sorry. At the moment, I am not at all in control of my life, more like, it's in control of me. So, as far as new updates go, the next one shouldn't take too long, because I've already got most of it written, but beyond that, I don't know. I'm going to try to keep updates pretty regular, but I can't promise anything. But anyways, what did you guys think of this chapter? Personally, I don't think I'm very good at Jacob's P.O.V, but I'm really interested to know what you think :D So...even though I know I don't really deserve it right now...review? Please? **

-BlackBird28


	10. Riding the Wind

_Disclaimer: ...and, I still don't own Twilight..._

Chapter Eight

Riding the Wind

He was walking towards me.

His beautiful russet skin gleaming in the sunlight, his silky black hair pulled back into a pony tail at the nape of his neck, shining so brilliantly in the sun it almost glistened. He flashed me a brilliant smile, revealing rows of straight, white teeth, and effectively turned my knees into jelly. He wasn't wearing a shirt, and try as I might, I couldn't help but stare at his perfect chest, his toned but not too bulky abs, his strong arms...

I was practically standing in a puddle of my own drool as he reached me, and gently took me into his arms. He was saying something, but I was too busy staring into his deep chocolate brown eyes, strangely familiar eyes, to notice. He smiled at me again, and reached down. His lips were inches from mine, I could practically taste his sweet breath. I closed my eyes just as he gently placed his warm lips on mine and-

My eyes snapped open.

It was as though someone had dumped a bucket of ice water on my head. That warm, fuzzy feeling of being in a good dream had suddenly evaporated, leaving me alone, in the pitch black real world with no idea where I was, in a great deal of pain, obviously not in my bed, and with no company other than the crickets. But surprisingly, warm. The same kind of warmth I'd felt when the man in my dream took me into his arms...but, no, I must be imaging it. That guy couldn't possibly be real. Guys like that just don't exist, and if they did, they certainly wouldn't pay any attention to me.

Dismissing these thoughts from my mind for the moment, I tried to figure out where I'd wound up. It felt like I was laying on some sort of mattress, and I wasn't really sure how I'd gotten there. But, deciding that I was relatively safe for the moment, and too tired to really care, I moved my head to bury it further into my pillow, and closed my eyes again, trying to fall back into that heavenly dream and, hopefully, the man that went along with it.

And then my eyes snapped open for the second time in five minutes.

If that was a pillow, it was one strange pillow. It was soft, and smooth, and very warm, but pointedly un-pillow like. Mainly because it was moving. As was the rest of my "mattress".

I sat up as best as I could, and blindly moved my hand about in the dark, trying to find the source of the movement. All I found was a searing hot, wet nose. Ah.

Wolf.

I remembered now. I must've fallen asleep against him after my semi-break down in the tree house. I could only remember flashes after the break down, I don't think I was really conscious for most of what had happened...

But I do remember one thing. We'd had a...connection, of sorts. Even now, I could feel his emotions, in the back of my mind, not really there, but still present. I remembered wondering if he could feel my emotions, just as I could feel his. The idea was ridiculous, and suggesting it to anyone else would have me locked up in the crazy house for the rest of my life, but...it had seemed so real, and I could still feel his emotions, so, the only logical conclusion was that it had actually happened, that I wasn't losing it.

Then again, I could have been dreaming, and even now, am just imagining feeling his emotions. I could be hallucinating because of the pain in my ankle, and my wrist, and every other part of my body now that I think about it...

I tried to ignore the new-found pain. I had to get back to the house, mom would probably be calling the police soon, and I didn't want to be found. Not by the police, anyway. I don't think they'd quite forgotten me yet.

I slowly moved into a fully sitting position, desperately trying not to wake Wolf up. I was pretty sure that, given all the opportunities he'd had, he wasn't going to eat me, but, well, I'd rather just let the sleeping dog lie, to be on the safe side.

I was actually quite proud of myself so far. I'd managed to disentangle myself from his legs and tail, which were wrapped securely around me, but when I tried to get up, I encountered a bit of a problem.

The source of the pain in my ankle was, evidently, not just from lack of circulation. It was more from lack of solid, none-broken bone structure. Cursing my stupidity as I teetered and fell, with as little grace and elegance as possible, back down onto Wolf, I prayed that he was a sound sleeper. But no such luck.

He woke up immediately. I could feel his muscles coil, ready to spring at any given moment, and let out an involuntary gasp as he fiercely growled. I was reminded once again of why I'd originally been so terrified of him. However, it only took him a few seconds to realize what was going on, and, just as suddenly as he'd turned into a fierce, snarling wolf ready to attack the next thing to breathe, he was a whining and whimpering puppy, begging for forgiveness after eating his master's favorite pair of slippers.

Even in the dark, I could tell he was pulling the puppy dog eyes.

Rolling my own eyes, I reached out towards the source of the whining and whimpering, and, upon finally locating what I was pretty sure was his nose, began to awkwardly pat it.

He seemed to relax a bit, and nudged my hand, encouraging me to scratch his ears. I obliged, sighing, but I couldn't hold back a small grin, and, judging by the loud panting coming from his general direction, he couldn't either. But I couldn't just stay there all night petting Wolf.

I tried, very slowly, to pull myself up again, but to no avail. I fell right back down again, my already shaky legs unable to support me anymore than they had been a minute before. Except that this time, Wolf caught me before I fell all the way to the ground.

Now draped awkwardly over his back, me feet dangling uncomfortably far from the ground, I tried to smoothly slide down, but he started whimpering as soon as I moved. I froze, thinking I'd hurt him someway (not failing to appreciate the irony, seeing as I'd been convinced he was going to eat me just this morning), but when he didn't make a sound for a while, I assumed it was just a coincidence, so I tried to move again. This time, he gave something between a whine and a soft howl, and I could tell by the way his body shifted that he'd turned around to look at me.

"What?" I asked him, somewhat exasperated.

I didn't really expect an answer from him, considering our language, not to mention species, barrier, but apparently, Wolf failed to recognize a rhetorical question when asked one.

He moved so fast that I was now completely convinced that whatever he was, normal wasn't an adjective in his vocabulary. He bent down for a half a second, so that my body, which had previously been suspended a good five feet from the ground, was in free fall. Then, in the other half of the second, he expertly spun around to catch me, and now I found myself somehow straddling him, my hands buried in the thick fur covering his neck, my head by his ear, my legs, if weakly, gripping his sides for dear life.

It was then I realized that he intended to carry me home.

Shocked into silence, I didn't notice for a few minutes that he had begun walking in what was hopefully the direction of my house.

But I did notice when he started to run.

It wasn't a sprint, and I got the distinct impression that he could be going a lot faster if I wasn't on his back, but it was enough to re-awaken my vocal chords.

"Wolf!" I shrieked, the panic rising up my throat, "what are you doing?!"

He didn't make any noise to show that he'd heard me, but he did seem to slow a little bit, sensing my fear. But my heart didn't slow down.

You see, I've never been one for high speeds, or heights, or anything potentially dangerous at all. Even before...well, before the accident, I was a highly cautious person, never going on a roller coaster, or jumping off the high dive, or anything scary, or dangerous. And then...after, well, if I'd been cautious before, I was more than a little paranoid now.

I knew Wolf could feel my anxiety and fear, but he seemed to think that getting me home safely was more of a priority.

I disagreed.

Just as I opened my mouth to say so - And I was pretty sure at that point, that, no matter how crazy it sounded, Wolf could understand English- we passed through an area of the woods where the trees were thinner. The full moon shone down on us, and suddenly, as I watched the trees blur into a mass of dark green and brown, I was aware of just how fast Wolf was running.

I decided it probably wasn't such a good idea to open my mouth after all.

Shutting my eyes tightly again, I tried to focus on not throwing up, but after a while, I became aware of a strange, new sensation.

It was like nothing I'd ever felt before. It was all at once terrifying, and exhilarating, and and breath taking, and it made me feel oddly...free. Like a weight had been temporarily lifted off my shoulders.

Forgetting my earlier queasiness, I opened my eyes, and immediately wanted to shut them again as Wolf just barely missed a huge tree, but, surprising myself, I didn't. I kept my head down on Wolf's neck, but turned my face to the side, so I could see the forest. Even as a blur, it was beautiful.

I felt myself getting used to sensation now, almost liking it even. I was amazed at how smoothly Wolf ran. With the breeze tickling my face, and whipping my hair around my head, I almost felt like I was gliding on the air. Riding the wind.

But, as with most things in life, just as soon as it starts to get fun, it has to end.

We slowed down considerably as we approached my house. Wolf came to a stop just inches from the back gate. Assuming this was my cue to get down, I struggled to slid off his back, but he abruptly turned around and yipped in my ear. Then, to my utter amazement, he reached up and gently unhooked the latch with his nose.

My jaw literally dropped. Oh he was _so_ not just an abnormally large wolf.

But I didn't have much time to contemplate this as he was already loping gracefully towards the house. Reaching the kitchen door, he glared at the doorknob, almost as though wishing he had hands to turn it.

Sensing his distraction, I finally slipped off his back as quickly as I could. When my feet hit the ground, I stumbled a bit, but Wolf, who had stopped trying to blow the door off of its hinges with his death glare (even though I'm sure he was quite capable of doing just that with one swipe of his huge paw), nudged me back on to my feet, or, foot, seeing as I was not about to put any weight on my broken ankle.

With shaky hands, I reached into the eves for the extra house key, and carefully unlocked the door. Wincing as it creaked open, I hopped inside, but then I stopped, realizing that Wolf was still standing on the threshold.

Awkwardly hopping around, I reaching him standing in the doorway, and, acting purely on an instinct I never knew I had, reached down, taking his huge face in my hands, and gently kissed him on what would have been his forehead, had he been human.

"Thank you" I whispered. He gave me the biggest grin I've ever seen, and a huge, wet, sloppy kiss on the cheek.

"Eww, Wolf!" I cried, trying to keep my voice down. He just grinned again and trotted off into the woods.

Shaking my head, I closed the door, and turned around.

This was it. The home stretch. I could make it, I could get up the stairs and into my room without my mom knowing, couldn't I?

Yes, yes I could, I told myself as I hopped past the refrigerator.

Half scooting, half hopping through the living room, I used the sofa for support, and then I hopped into the hallway. _Yes,_ _I think I can I think I can_...

I was at the bottom of the stairs now, looking forlornly up the staircase, wondering what kind of an moron had decided to make it so darn long. But I had to think positively.

_I think I can I think I can I think I can_..

Halfway there now...

_I think I can I think I can I think I can_...

Yes! I finally made it to the top of the stairs. Taking a moment to breath, I collapsed against the banister, intently listening for signs of life in my mom's bedroom.

Nothing. Perfect.

Almost smiling now at my sneakiness (even though I knew full well I was going to get it in the morning) I crawled the last few feet to my room, dragged myself up the molding on the doorway to my room, and reached for door handle, every muscle in my body screaming. But that would be over soon. I could collapse in bed, I could go to sleep immediately, I could...

But all my hopes and dream were suddenly crushed, as I opened the door to see my bed already occupied.

By my mother.

"Hi honey" she said in a falsely sweet, I'm-about-to-ground-you-for-the-rest-of-you-life, kind of voice. "Is there something you'd like to tell me?"

I closed my eyes in defeat.

She knew.

Damn.

**A/N: Hi, I know I said I would update faster, and this wasn't very fast, but here it is, anyways. Please review? Please? And thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter, it's much appreciated :D **

BlackBird28


End file.
